Worst mishap at an FBO

[shamrock]

I remember back in the mid 90's there was this guy who really wanted to be a pilot so he got a job as a ramper at the FBO near his home. Among other things his job description included fueling the FedEx aircraft that came in to the airport.

Now, as most of you know, large aircraft can hold a lot of fuel and pumping 4000-5000 gallons can take a bit of time (as well as be a little boring) so our ramper takes to bringing along a bit of light reading to pass the time. Flying, AOPA Pilot, that sort of thing. Well one day he's sitting at the back of the truck reading the accident/incident reports in the latest edition of Aviation Safety, waiting patiently for the fuel to pump slowly into the plane. His mind is filled with questions about how the people he is reading about could be so stupid mixed with thoughts of how great it would be to be flying one of the planes he works with instead of fueling them.

His daydreaming is soon interrupted by the screams of a FedEx mechanic telling him to stop fueling. It seems that on this Airbus there are 2 fuel tanks in each wing with the outboard filling first followed by the inboard. In a perfect world the valve to the outboard tank closes when it becomes full allowing the fuel to then fill the inboard. Alas, we are not living in a perfect world. It seems that the valve has stuck open and instead of fuel flowing into the inboard tank it is now cascading out of the fuel vent at the tip of the wing, a fact wasted on our fueler who is busy reading his magazine and cannot see the wing tip from his seat at the rear of the truck anyway. Pandelirium ensues and the clean up begins.

Fat forward a few months. The truth of fuelers actions that fateful night come to light when FedEx refuses to chip in for the cost of the clean up, saying it was the fuelers fault. Our heartbroken fueler is terminated and disappears from sight. Nobody is really sure what has come of him, although there are unconfirmed reports that he is now flying RJ's somewhere down south.

It figures, those regionals will hire anybody.

 

[siucavflight]

Nobody is really sure what has come of him, although there are unconfirmed reports that he is now flying RJ's somewhere down south.

It figures, those regionals will hire anybody.

Maybe he is flying for go jets.

 

[Vector4fun]

An FBO lineman at SDM in San Diego who refueled Bob Hoover's Shrike with Jet-A causing a dual-engine failure and off-airport landing with substantial aircraft damage. The lineman assumed it was a jet because it had a decal on each engine nacelle that said "Turbo."

IIRC from his book, Hoover insisted the same lineman fuel his aircraft the next day. The kid felt so bad about the whole thing. Hoover probably also saved his job. Class act.

 

[kilroy]

Fbo Fubar

Couple of months ago in SRQ a line guys was towing I believe a Citation he had a seizure fell off the tug the tug ran him over then proceeded to push the aircraft into the hanger wall and ramming 2 other aircraft on the way.

A few months prior the pushed Travoltas G3 of the ramp into the mud required a crane to get it back on the ramp

 

[Some guy]

A few years ago at KAPA, (so the story goes), line crew towed a Gulfstream over an excavated hole in the pavement that was covered with plywood, main wheel broke through and crunched the wing.

I used to have pictures of that. They flew that one to SAV and had it checked...Just a couple of scratches and she's been doing well ever since!

Maybe they should have used pressure treated wood!?

 

[Check 6]

In 1999 I was waiting for the boss to show up at a very large and well known FBO at Long Beach for departure in his Lear 35. I had line service hook up a GPU for preflighting. The GPU remained connected to a tug.

The duty lineman asked me if he could use the GPU for a few minutes to start another aircraft; this was not a problem as we were not departing for at least 90 minutes. Lineman turns off the GPU and jumps on the tug and drives off.

Minor problem - he forgot to disconnect the power to the Lear This was a Sunday and the General Manager came in to apologize to me, and to fire the lineman. The damage was not sufficient to ground the aircraft, but the labor involved later was fairly big.

Said FBO then provided us with a chartered Lear 35 for our pending flights while repairs were completed.

Me? I got to ride in the back of the chartered Lear with the boss drinking cocktails and eating their food. Great boss. :beer:

 

[User546]

Couple of months ago in SRQ a line guys was towing I believe a Citation he had a seizure fell off the tug the tug ran him over...

I assume that being ran over by the tug killed the guy having the seizure?

 

[kilroy]

Surprising enough he survived broken leg internal injuries but alive.

I assume that being ran over by the tug killed the guy having the seizure?

 

[TrafficInSight]

IIRC, this resulted in FAA guidance that discouraged, if not prohibited, placing words like "turbo" or "jet" on or near the engines or fuel fillers of gasoline-powered aircraft.

That's why our Aztec says "Charged" on the nacelles.... I just figured it meant we were still paying it off

 

[ultrarunner]

Two little girls, none with a license, took a joy ride into a hangar. They wedged the SUV under a wing of a large jet. Large jet had to have a wing replaced before it flew again. That was bad.